By Anthony Ngare

In the last few years, the Government has engaged in a spirited effort to ensure broadcast content by TV stations is largely local.

And going by the amount of local content being screened, it appears the initiative is bearing fruits. This strategy is in turn paying dividends to local artistes and thespians.

In a couple of days, a locally produced TV series, Changes, will hit the screens. The drama has been produced with support of Multi-Choice Kenya.

Many other free-to-air TV stations have not spared anything either in their zeal to air local content.

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Local content

Citizen TV has arguably been the leader with an array of programmes such as Tahidi High, Inspecta Mwala,Papa Shirandula and Mother-in-Law, among others. "The demand for local content has steadily risen, and so is the quality of production," notes Multi-Choice Kenya General Manager Stephen Isaboke.

The company, jointly owned by Multi-Choice Africa and the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC), has aired numerous movies and drama series written, shot and produced locally.

Changes is just one of the productions the company has been involved in. Movies such as The Race, Semester, 50-50 and Kibera Kid are among those the broadcaster has supported.

"We are doing much more to tell African stories and tell them well to African audiences," says Isaboke.

Nollywood stars

Two months ago, Multi Choice held a screenwriters’ workshop where budding scriptwriters, producers and industry professionals drawn from East Africa were trained on production and script writing.

The broadcaster also partners with local TV stations to beam locally produced shows across Africa.

MNET’s Director of Operations Joe Hundah notes local production may initially suffer quality constraints, but this does not mean the efforts will go to waste. "When DSTV created Africa Magic, it was criticised for poor production values but it has created Nollywood stars. You can now buy Nollywood DVDs in New York. Producers have to see beyond their own shores," says Hundah.